Leading on from ITFCSerbia's point, it actually seems more often the case that the ones we let go go onto bigger things rather than the Gibbs, Brown's, Knights of this world who we tried to keep. Sometimes the best thing for a player is to be released, graft in the lower divisions or non-league and hit the big time in their mid 20s. Plenty of England players like that including of course Tyrone Mings. I think they learn mental toughness and work ethic that way.

If it is not about money and the lad loves the club so much then why not sign the contract?
If he is as good as some people reckon and became a regular first team player for us then no doubt he would soon be picked up by a bigger club. Hopefully it will work out for the lad and he doesn't end up regretting the decision but as has already been said often these kids sign for a premiership club and you hardly hear anything about them again.

ITFC Serbia Conor Hourihane but not much else

Grinch. What are you on about? How is the backroom staff bigger than the playing staff. I despair of some of the people on here. Even with the players whove left, taking into account those still here, plus those whove returned from loans, plus the 6 weve already signed, we still have around 25-30 players.

I love how people say we should be keeping him, after his one league start and two cup starts! how can anyone think they can judge better than the club on if we should keep him or not.
Clearly the club weren't that bothered, and if we were that close on terms why didn't he compromise if he was 'keen to stay'.
Let's see what becomes of his career, but wouldn't surprise me if we never hear of him again.

That's a shame. I thought he was decent. He'll drop down a division and will become a decent player who will probably come back to haunt us one day.

Good luck of Liam wherever he ends up

@spanishblue - Conor Hourihane did not come through our youth system

It was quite shrewd of Cook to offer him a contract knowing that would qualify for compensation from whoever he goes to.

We have no idea what the contract talks were. All I have seen is the manager's comments on the existing players, and thus their availability, and Gibbs set to train with the U23s. It could be there was little hope of a move towards the first team for some time, especially if the boss plans to bring in others. In that work environment why not seek another job ?

It would be a shame as there seem to be a number that see promise in him.

Sad that its come to this but without knowing the ins and outs of the negotiations, its hard to pass judgment although i would like to think that if an 18 year old with only 2 apperances is offered a pro deal at a club thats seen them progress this far then you cant expect life changing money until youve proven your aptitude at the level.

We move on.

Has he the same agent as Downes by any chance?

Shame as clearly has a future in the game. However, as it didn't seem the most massive increase was required to keep him, you can only accept that with the salary cap and the fact he's probably not going to be first choice for a year or two, that the club had to make the decision that the players own valuation of his services didn't match their own at this time.
The way the whole academy system works is completely wrong, at present in our position you could produce wonder kid after wonder kid and just loose them for peanuts, I wonder if this is why we no longer produce the quality that we have in the past?

Billericay12 & Linkboy13 are spot on. He's a decent youngster to be fair but there's a lot of people in and around the club as well as Town fans who seem to think he's the next Pirlo or Xavi. I'm sure he's a great lad off the pitch too, but not ready for our first team and very unlikely to play in any first team above division 2 atm. Money is most likely the key issue and will always be for players unfortunately.

Rackoona makes a good point but (unless I misunderstand the current rules) the fact remains that as soon as the 2020 salary cap (which excluded academy products under 24) was withdrawn the club had to factor all player wages into the 60% of turnover equation, therefore limiting the scope to offer the youngsters more.
Comments about payment of non playing staff are wrong because the owners will be paying those anyway and they arent governed.
At a point where we are still aggressively adding to our first team squad, using more generous wages for those outside of the first team doesnt make sense.
Equally, an understanding of this from both parties and a stepped graduated increasing package, with the right buy-out clause for both parties would have been possible, unless the lad has already had his head turned by lucrative offers from elsewhere.
Either way, I hope more than anything that he doesn't take a short term financial gain and play no football, as we have seen before, that would be another colossal waste.
I get that he and his family will need to weigh things up carefully, we will all look at this from a purely fan perspective, their view will understandably be wider.

He may well see his future outside of the football bubble. Good luck to him, but hope he is back at PR in some capacity. A good egg.

Very disappointed about this, but in a way it does show, if we didn't know it already, that our new owners are very conscious about value for money and will not be pushed into a deal they don't feel fulfils this criterion. Anyway, good luck to ya, Liam.

If 18 year old Liam Gibbs is as good as he thinks he is, by now he should be training with our first team, not the Under 23s.
Cook's Number One task is to get us promoted in this coming season. From what Cook has seen by now, Gibbs is unlikely to contribute to this.
We need to trust our Manager's judgement. His CV is a lot better than mine!

I have no idea what actually happened,,but l know that a club can nurture and bring on tak3nted players for years, and then lose them for peanuts, and as soon as they leave say to a PL Club they're worth decent money. We as a club together with some other clubs fought against this, but the rest of the EFL caved into the PL pressure.Why ? Money of course.Not al lot really, but such is the structure of English football, we have to make do with the scraps falling from the table.

There is a very strong argument growing for just putting houses on Playford Road, especially as the new owners undertook due diligence on this twice before purchasing the club. Could use the money to perhaps purchase the Stadium.

Look at all these opinions about what fans think might be the reason why he's not signed the contract offered, and just like me, none of us know the real reason. But I don't see these fans posting it's about the money …about not being in the first team squad, getting a load of flack like I've just had on the main forum. Let's be honest, no one on this forum really ever knows what's going on at the club. But surely we are allowed to voice our opinions/ views about the players, the club etc and vent our spleen when we feel things are not right? It's been done by many on here about numerous topics.

So I'm not really sure why my view that this academy player should expect to “earn the right” to be in the first team squad, rather than he have it written into his new contract, or expect an increase in his wages, ( if that's what his agent has done), should be seen as been against the player. My point is simply that He's proved nothing yet to “ demand” this in a new contract. They seem to expect it on a plate these days.

Anyway , that's me done on this subject.

i think we made a choice between him and Baggott with the wage restrictions, we have a budget and made a decision!

Charlie Brown, was prolific goal scorer in Chelsea's lower ranks, having moved from Ipswich to Chelsea for a sizeable fee. An impressive record in Chelsea's lower order failed to earn him one first team appearance. Eventually moving on to MK Dons, managed 3 goals in 20 appearances. His value is probably less now than what Chelsea paid to us as a spotty faced kid.

Ben Knights, again went to Man City for a sizeable fee, as yet only one fleeting first team appearance. Huws came through the Man City academy, not a bad player but now looking for a lowly order club.

Kundai Benyu, had all sorts of nonsense filled in his head about being a much better player than he really was. Left for Celtic, made only one appearance before he moved on and ended up playing for the mighty Wealdstone for a season. Now appears to be with some obscure Icelandic second tier side trying to convince that to appreciate him you have to have the ability to do those magic eye puzzles.

Dylan Crowe, who Lambo got so annoyed about as the lad thought he had already arrived just because he had played atEngland Under (whatever) level and supposedly Man Utd and a big German Club has expressed an interest.

Talking of German Clubs would Keenan Bennetts get into our first team today? I think there would be a unanimous NO there.

I am not really bothered if these clubs want to keep nicking our talented youngsters provide we get a fair price for them or reasonable compensation.

It may be true that Liam Gibbs comes from a good upbringing and in his family's mind they may not perceive to being greedy.

If anything Liam does become the victim here and as always whoever is representing him will say they have his best interests at heart albeit they may as an agent really will always put their own interests before the player's.

I have watched Liam several times and he does appear to have something special about him, however, again he is not a Kieron Dyer, Darren Ambrose or Darren Bent to name some examples. Going back some time Kevin Beattie and George Burley at about or a little earlier age than Liam staked early claims on their spot in the first team and became difficult to dislodge.

Liam in his 3 first team outings has looked slightly overwhelmed.

I wish the lad well especially because if he goes on to become a great player it will still be a good outcome and advert for the ITFC academy, but I just can't help thinking the lad is making a big mistake and maybe the best he can hope for is to try and rediscover his self like Matt Penney in a handful of years rather than disappearing to the frozen wastes of Iceland like Kundai.

These lads leave of the excitenent of playing foe a bigger club but i may be wrong but not one of them has made it.i may be wrong

Some may think that a few hundred thousand for this yet untried young man is on the low side but it would probably provide town with enough money to see us to securing the services of Matt Crooks a quality player who has good experience behind him.
Yes it's a shame he will go but the aim must surely be on putting a team together to get us out of this league.
Many thought Dozzell would be our midfield saviour with the promise he showed, the same with Bishop and Lancaster, it would be a big gamble to take and to keep Gibbs when we could have a nailed on midfielder in Crooks.
But that's just my opinion being expressed.